1. Technical Field
This application relates to a vascular device and more particularly to a rotational thrombectomy device for clearing thrombus from dialysis grafts.
2. Background of Related Art
Hemodialysis is a well-known method of simulating renal (kidney) function by circulating blood. The kidneys are organs which function to extract water and urea, mineral salts, toxins, and other waste products from the blood with filtering units called nephrons. From the nephrons the collected waste is sent to the bladder for excretion. For patients suffering from chronic renal insufficiency, hemodialysis is life saving because it provides a machine to simulate the function of the kidneys, thereby enabling the patients to live independently between dialysis treatments.
In the hemodialysis procedure, blood is withdrawn from the patient's body and transported to a dialysis machine, also commonly referred to as a kidney machine. In the dialysis machine, toxins and other waste products diffuse through a semi-permeable membrane into a dialysis fluid closely matching the chemical composition of the blood. The filtered blood, i.e. with the waste products removed, is then returned to the patient's body.
In one approach, an arteriovenous fistula is created so a high rate of blood flows from the artery into the patient's vein. The blood is then withdrawn directly from the patient's vein (native vein fistula) providing high rates of blood flow. Since this approach requires multiple needle sticks in the vein to withdraw and return the blood, the vein can eventually be damaged beyond usability, blood clots can form and the vein can fail. Once the vein fails, it could no longer be used for access and an alternate site must be utilized.
To avoid the repetitive damage to the vein, dialysis grafts are used. These grafts, typically made of PTFE, are implanted under the patient's skin, typically in the patient's forearm, and the graft is sutured at one end to the vein (venous anastomosis) for outflow and at the other end to the artery (arterial anastomosis) for inflow. The graft is also typically a loop graft to provide greater access area. This graft, which functions as a shunt creating high blood flow from the artery to the vein, enables access to the patient's blood without having to directly puncture the vein. That is, the technician sticks the two needles into the graft to respectively withdraw and return blood to the patient, with the inlet on the arterial side for blood requiring filtration processing and the outlet on the vein side for return of processed blood from the dialysis machine.
The dialysis graft, while providing an advantageous arrangement for hemodialysis, may become inoperable after a period of time due to thrombus or clots formed as a result of the high rate of blood flow through the graft and repetitive injury at the venous anastomosis.
There have been various attempts to break up clots and other obstructing material in the graft. One approach is through injection of thrombolytic agents such as urokinase or streptokinase. These agents, however, are expensive, require lengthier hospital procedures and create risks of drug toxicity and bleeding complications as the clots are broken.
Other approaches to breaking up clots involve mechanical thrombectomy devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,191 discloses a cage or basket composed of six memory wires that expand to press against the inner lumen to conform to the size and shape of the lumen. This multiple wire device is expensive and can be traumatic to the graft, possibly causing damage, since as the basket rotates, the graft is contacted multiple times by the spinning wires. Other risks associated with the basket include the possibility of catching onto the graft itself and tearing the graft as well as catching and tearing the suture at the anastomotic site. Additionally, the basket can become filled with a clot which would then require time consuming withdrawal of the basket, cleaning the basket and reinserting it into the lumen.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,090,118, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a wire rotated to create a standing wave to break-up or macerate thrombus. The single wire is less traumatic than the aforedescribed basket device since it minimizes contact with the graft wall while still effectively mechanically removing thrombotic material.
This device of the '118 patent is effective in atraumatically and effectively breaking up blood clots. The present invention likewise provides a marked advance over the prior mechanical thrombectomy devices such as the baskets. The present invention achieves the same advantages as the device of the '118 patent, however, it utilizes a wire with a substantially sinuous configuration to create a wave-like rotational device. Thus, it provides the additional advantages of increased reliability and consistency in creating the wave pattern since the wave pattern created by the standing wave of the '118 patent will depend more on the rotational speed and the stiffness of the wire. Additionally, the sinuous configuration enables creation of a wave pattern at a lower rotational speed.
Co-pending commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/888,149 incorporated herein by reference, discloses a thrombectomy device having a double balloon structure. This device advantageously reduces the number of individual catheters required to perform the thrombectomy procedure and reduces the number of surgical steps. The present invention therefore provides in one version a double balloon device with a sinuous wire configuration. The advantages of the double balloon thrombectomy device in simplifying the procedure and reducing operating costs is explained in more detail below in conjunction with the comparative flow charts of FIGS. 19-20.